The Natural Thing To Do
by sharpestsatire
Summary: Fang seemed to think kissing me on the nose, like we were a long term couple, was a natural thing to do and gazed quietly at me, while I stared blankly back at him, heart thumping at a blistering pace. RE-EDITED.


**Takes place in TFW, on the research boat. How I view it... they're in Antarctica, right? It snows. So who shovels the snow off the decks of the ship they're on? **

**I think there will be some very obvious AU things in this, and I obviously pretend like all their kisses before TFW didn't happen and she still sees him as a best friend.**

**And finally… The Most Original Disclaimer You Will Ever See: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.**

**Original published date: 3/9/11.**

**Edited version published on: 7/16/11. Thank you to Kissy Fishy for catching some mistakes in this.**

* * *

My world exploded in blinding white, freezing powder and ice particles. I blinked furiously, spluttering, before sucking in a huge breath.

"Iggy!" I bellowed. "You freaking jerk! What the heck was that for?"

Iggy, the maniac, was laughing so obnoxiously hard he actually plopped down onto the snow.

"Oh, man," he gasped, wiping at his eyes. "Oh, man. That was sheer genius!" He high fived Gazzy with relish.

I crossed my arms over my chest – or tried to, but I was still holding my shovel. It completely ruined the effect. My arms dropped to my sides again and I settled for glaring at him.

"Iggy, why are you out here? What exactly do you think you can do to help right now?" I demanded. "And Gazzy, why aren't you shoveling the poop deck? That was your job!"

"Aw, Max," Gazzy whined while immature Iggy snickered at my saying "poop deck."

"No," I said firmly. "Nudge and Angel are looking at the penguins, Fang's doing whatever Fang does, so it's just us. Everybody else is busy. Now, be a trooper and move your butt, or I'm searching your room for…" I glanced around the ship. "…you-know-whats."

"You need a search warrant for that, Max," Iggy said nonchalantly.

Excuse me while I scoff.

"Since when have I needed a warrant to go through your room?" I asked incredulously.

"It was worth a try," I heard Gazzy mutter.

I raised an eyebrow, but turned to shovel again. I was ready this time. I heard the telltale whoosh and ducked. The snowball exploded against the waist deep mound of snow in front of me. I spun, furious and ready to give those two a piece of my mind, when Iggy and Gazzy slammed the ship's hatch, cackling with laughter.

I turned back around with an aggravated huff, only to come face to face with Fang, giving me a mini heart attack.

"Holy crap!" I shrieked. I lost my balance and landed incredibly gracefully on my butt. "Fang, you jerk! Don't do that!"

He smirked, dark eyes laughing, of course, and gave me a hand up.

"Why do you do that?" I asked with a scowl.

"Do what?"

In a fit of pique, I turned away from him. Two arms suddenly wrapped around my waist and I automatically tried to kick back between Fang's legs. Fang knew me too well and easily blocked it with his knee.

We struggled in silence until Fang, with a heave, threw me into the mound of snow I'd made.

I landed face first.

In the snow.

Oh, Fang, you are so dead.

I finally got my feet under me and stood, thigh high, in snow. Stuck. Why hadn't I just thrown the snow over the side of the ship? Why did I decide to make a pile of it instead?

"Fang," I said calmly, neatly slicing the silence between us.

"Max," he said lightly, face expressionless, besides an almost miniscule smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. When I didn't say anything, just stared at him, he gave a tiny smile – his version of a goofy grin – and headed back towards the hatch Iggy and Gazzy had disappeared down. Just like that.

"Have fun shoveling the poop deck," he said over his shoulder. "By yourself."

"Fang!" I yelled, when he had almost reached the front door.

"What?"

"What does it look like, Einstein? I'm stuck."

He turned to face me, impassive, a cold breeze gently waving his black hair.

"Aren't you going to be all macho and help me?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

To my surprise, he actually came back.

"So much for the invincible Maximum Ride," he said in what he thought was monotone, though his tone was colored with a bit of humor that only I could detect. "If the Uber-Director only knew the best way to capture you was to throw you into snow."

"Shut up," I said under my breath.

"You know I'll always be there for you, right?" he muttered, almost gently, in my ear as he leaned forward to pull me out. He smelled wonderful, like spicy cinnamon, like home, and I breathed in deeply without thinking. His scent sidetracked me before I remembered what I was doing.

I almost felt bad for what I was about to do.

"Almost" being the imperative word of that sentence.

As soon as Fang had a grip on my hands and was about to haul me out, I jerked him forward towards me.

It happened fast. When he was about to land face first in the snow – like I had – I gripped him around the waist, used his momentum against him and sloppily threw him over my hip into the snow behind me.

I was impressed I could do that while I was thigh high in snow with little room for movement.

But I dismissed my surprise. I had better things to do.

"Oh, yes!" I crowed, pumping my fist. "Revenge is a dish best served cold!"

"That was so lame," Fang sniggered behind me. And tackled me, making me yelp.

We were both evenly matched but the snow made it hard for us to fairly get a chance to upstage the other. And it seemed that it just wasn't my day, because I found myself spitting snow out of my mouth and glaring up at my best friend a few seconds later.

Who had pinned me to the ground.

The cold, snowy ground.

Some best friend he was.

"Say 'uncle,'" Fang said smugly, smirking down at me, his warm brown eyes glinting.

"I'd rather kiss an M-Geek," I retorted.

We were close, with him lying on top of me. Even though I'd known him for as long as I could remember, I was suddenly noticing Fang in a different way. His perfectly sloped nose, his pale cheeks, his arresting brown eyes that even now I was getting lost in. It took long enough, but I just realized that my best friend was a guy… a good looking one at that. The reason behind the sudden fits of anger I felt when I thought of Brigid and Lissa were abruptly becoming frighteningly clear.

If I wasn't red from the cold before, I certainly was red for other reasons now.

Fang raised an eyebrow, a piece of his ebony hair falling into his eyes. "Really? You'd rather kiss an M-Geek then say 'uncle' to your best friend who doesn't – notice the emphasis – doesn't try to kill you on a regular basis?"

Ok, put like that….

I have pride issues, apparently. (No, duh.)

But I couldn't back down now.

"Yes," I declared.

Fang raised both eyebrows this time and said nothing, which wasn't exactly surprising.

"What?" I asked defensively. And Fang smiled. Not one of those half smiles but a full out smile. A curve of his lips that was so perfect I wondered why I didn't notice it before.

My heart cliché-ly skipped a beat.

"What?" I asked again, aware now more than ever of how close he was to me. My cheeks felt like they were burning. I felt like I was burning.

"Only you, Max," Fang said and kissed the tip of my nose lightly.

My brain short circuited. It would've been amusing if it wasn't so incredibly serious right that second. Fang seemed to think kissing me on the nose, like we were a long term couple, was a natural thing to do and gazed quietly at me, while I stared blankly back at him, heart thumping at a blistering pace. He seemed content to just study me and didn't seem to expect an answer. I was having a hard time breathing.

It was so very, very still. I wouldn't have run even if I could. So as Fang leaned slowly in, and my heart rate sped up, my eyes slid closed of their own accord and –

"Fang!" a voice yelled, splintering the silence. "You've got to see this!"

Dr. Amazing.

It surprised me that Fang didn't move from on top of me. And for two beautiful seconds, I thought – I fervently believed – that he wouldn't go running back to Brigid.

But the euphoric moment passed – they always do – and produced a bitter aftertaste as Fang gets off me lightly. With a quiet, "See ya, Max," he went off to save the world with Brigid Dwyer.

Without me.

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**Short and sweet, right? *cough* I almost posted it under romance and humor, but then thought about the ending and figured romance and angst would definitely be better.**

**Review please!**

**all my platonic love,**

**SharpestSatire**


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